Television networks, such as the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), the Columbia Broadcasting Company (CBS), and the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), have for years broadcast television shows to the masses as a means for generating revenue through advertising. For example, these networks produce television shows and then seek out sponsors to advertise on the shows. The television shows, or “content”, have designated timeslots in which the sponsors' advertisements, or “assets”, are inserted. The content and the inserted assets are then broadcast by the television networks, or “content providers”, to the public over federally licensed communication airways, occasionally referred to as linear video distribution.
This “shotgun” approach to advertising proved to be very successful in the beginning. However, as the number of advertisers wishing to sell their goods and services substantially increased, television evolved into a much more complex system of communications. For example, cable television providers and satellite television providers now serve as intermediary “content distributors” between the content providers and the intended public audience. And, the number of content providers has increased accordingly. In this regard, many members of the general public have signed on as customers of the cable/satellite content distributors so as to receive a broader availability of content.
Because the market for content consumption has grown, the number of content distributors has also grown. And, because each of these providers has its own method of content delivery, the manner in which the content and assets are delivered to the customers has become increasingly complex. Generally, the content providers deliver the content to the content distributors with instructions to insert various national assets into the content at certain times. For example, if a company wishes to run a national advertisement campaign targeting a certain television show associated with a particular demographic, the company may purchase one or more timeslots, or “placement opportunities”, within that television show from the content provider to air assets advertising the goods and services of the company. The content provider then provides the content to each of the content distributors with directions to insert the assets within the timeslots purchased by the company.
The content distributors may also have certain timeslots available for inserting certain local assets. For example, a content distributor may have “headends” configured in various communities to distribute content to their customers located therein. Each headend receives content from the content providers with various designated timeslots for inserting assets into the content. Some of those timeslots may be designated for local advertisements where companies within the service area of the headend wish to advertise. These companies purchase those timeslots from the content distributor for insertion of their assets to expose the customers to their advertising at the more local level.
As complex as the cable/satellite television has become, certain devices have come along to change and/or circumvent these forms of marketing altogether. The digital recorder, such as that produced by Tivo, is one example of a means for avoiding the asset insertions of marketing strategists. With the digital recorder, the content distributors' customers are able to digitally record entire episodes of content and view that content at their leisure, as opposed to a time established by the content providers. However, these customers can also use the digital recorders to fast-forward or skip through the assets without viewing them, much to the dismay of the asset owners.
In response, content distributors started providing content on a “Video On Demand” (VOD) basis, sometimes referred to as nonlinear video distribution. In VOD, the content provider delivers the content to the content distributor which in turn maintains the content for subsequent and individual distribution to their customers. Thus, a customer may select a desired content through a set-top box (STB) or other device (collectively referred to herein as “customer premise equipment” or “CPE”) and watch that content at the customer's leisure. This VOD content is also typically configured with timeslots where assets may be inserted. However, marketing strategists have not been able to determine the effectiveness of asset insertion in VOD content.